Anniversaries and Annuals
by valkurion-universe
Summary: It is the anniversary of Athena's sister, Jess's death, and after the event of Tales from the Borderlands she is feeling a little extra volatile this year. With the help of Janey, Gortys and Loader Bot she manages to get out of bed, and takes fiance Janey to the site of her sister's grave. Springs helps the gladiator move past what has happened, and mourn Jess once again.


_AN: Femslash February Installment 3 was going to be Lemon Tea from Overwatch but I just finished Tales from the Borderlands and yeah, have some Pandora Lesbians and my favourite robot ever._

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 **Anniversaries and Annuals**

Janey continued to turn the socket wrench in the anti-clockwork rotating rhythm as she did her best to fix the undercarriage workings of the latest half beat rust bucket that rolled on the shop floor of the Hollowpoint Catch-A-Ride she had procured from late Scooter. A normal start to a normal morning.

Only Athena hadn't woken up for an extra three or so hours this morning, and she looked so content in the sack, her head on that extra pillow Janey Springs had grafted from that one Bandit with the straw all over his head. She had simply had to her fiance sleep in. Athena looked too beautiful on that pillow to wake early. Only now, as Springs was working alone in the empty shop floor, with just her tools beside her, the occasional whoosh noises of the clothing and vending machines, and the once in a blue moon bouts of Scooter's voice over the radio, she grew a little lonely. Janey wished Athena would wake and come down to join her, even if that was just in her satin dressing gown.

After a few more moments, Janey was just left with the latest track on the radio. On some station called 'Radio New Pandora' with some jackass on the mic that sounded like he had never seen a Skag or even felt real grit under his feet. Obviously, he wasn't some native or a Bandit prop. But neither could he be from Helios, the superstructure had fallen from orbit and had been a settlement, one she had been making more and more money from, for about a year now.

With more and more the socket wrench turned, the less and less Janey cared, she was a little lonely, and at least they had better tunes playing across the dustball of a planet than prior.

"Still not as good as the stuff we had back on the moon, before Hyperion happened, that is," she spoke to herself, the sharp twang of her accent ringing across the open space of the shop floor. It was then she really got a feel for what she actually sounded like, talking to herself, and stopped her turning of the wrench. "Oh gosh is that how I actually sound?" She asked herself again, only she wasn't really the only person there.

From the back, the gold coloured hands of an endoskeleton set down a box of fresh parts; manifolds, pistons, caps, coolant seals and tanks of gas. "Indeed. You do sound like that," the mechanical and bass monotone of Loader Bot told her, followed by the wheels screech of his counterpart following him into the room.

"Oh yeah! It's great right! So cheery all the time and fresh! No one else has that voice!" It was Gortys, carrying her own little box of nuts, bolts, smaller caps and screws. Janey had offered them both jobs of sorts after the fight with The Traveller since the loot was not that incredible. And not that robots could do much with loot anyway. They both seemed excitable by the offer and took it just to be settled and comfortable with two of their friends.

With Fiona and Sasha still operating out of Hollowpoint and actually cleaning the place up, it was a perfect opportunity. That and the only real alternative was living back at Helios, they rathered Hollowpoint.

"Where's Athena? Is she still sleeping?" Gortys asked, chipper as always after she had strained herself putting the small cardboard box on the reception desk across the room.

Janey grumbled a little and turned the socket wrench a little harder so that the bang and the grind of rusted metal on even more rusted steel would ring louder across the room. She was deliberately trying to wake Athena up from there, but the former assassin could sleep through sounds far more disruptive than that. "Yes," Springs spat through gritted teeth.

"I think the bolt is effectively tightened in now Miss Springs," Loader Bot told her, his body hunched down to see what was making so much noise. That red glowing eye stared right at her so badly that when Janey turned to see where he was she freaked, her shaking stability through annoyance slipping once she saw it. She mildly screamed and dropped the wrench with a bang, which in turn set Gortys off, frightening her and making her shriek with her robot cry.

Springs quickly propelled herself out from under the car and shot to the orb-like little machine and cuddled her close and proper. "Gortys! It's okay! Shit I'm sorry, Loader Bot scared me and I dropped my wrench! I'm sorry pet!" Janey cried as she cuddled Gortys close to try and get her to settle. So many times Janey Springs had thought of Gortys as a child, and it was a correct similisation. Gortys was so like a small child, such a trembling nerve pattern, easily startled and set off since her fight with The Traveller and the horrific mission to Helios when it was still in space. And now she was living with Janey and Athena, how strange it was. If the little robot was a little girl then now she was theirs, and Loader Bot must have been the elder caretaker. Like an uncle, brother, or perhaps family friend with that no so subtle crush on the cute Gortys.

Eventually, Gortys stopped shaking and looked at Janey with her happy blue lights for eyes as Loader Bot crept silently behind both of them. "I'm okay! Sorry for freaking out there Janey! I guess I haven't been as calm since the fight with The Traveller!" She told them both, her eyes and little squiggly light for a mouth alternating and changing the whole time she did.

"It's okay Gortys, it's understandable dear," Janey reassured her, like the assumed mother she had become to the little robot in recent months.

"You are still recovering at an expert rate Gortys. Well done." Loader Bot affirmed from behind Janey, who's look told at least the orb-shaped bot that she was less than pleased with the gold humanoid synthetic creeping on her again. He had been doing it a lot lately, his respect for personal boundaries must have only applied to Rhys, the new Owner of the Atlas Corporation.

There came a soft thud from the stairwell and then a sharper pound on the door leading to the upstairs house section of the property. "Can someone please tell me what all the noise is? I'm trying to get some sleep here!"

It was Athena, in her satin gown, and looking downright angry with herself and the rest of them. Janey looked right at her.

"Hon? What's wrong?" She asked, seeing the swell of negative emotion in her lover's eyes. There was a buildup, of something that Janey had not really seen before, not in that abundance. She could hardly make the purple haired ex-assassin and current Vault Hunter from her eyes. It looked to Janey that Athena had been… Crying? Athena never cried, not ever, she was too battle hardened, conditioned and indoctrinated to cry or even feel that level of emotion, except with one thing, well, two things. One of them currently Janey, Athena would certainly cry over her.

And… Jess.

At that Janey knew what was wrong, set Gortys down and walked at a brisk pace to the doorway, snatching at Athena's frame and taking her back up to the bedroom. If this was the day Janey thought it was, a year after they had let Cassius, the least Atlas Employee on Pandora well and truly go, then Athena would, of course, be volatile. It was the anniversary of Jess's death.

Once they ended up back in the bedroom, away from the robots and the rest of the machinery of the Catch-A-Ride, away from everything, Janey instantly set her fiance and confidante on the bed and held her close in her arms, more loving than she did with Gortys of course. She kissed Athena's cheek, soft and pressing, rubbing the back of her, trying to make her feel better. But Athena was already beginning to cry again, her eyes furious and devastated all at once. The combined negative emotion aimed internally and outward at the long dead and yet rising again the name of Atlas.

"How did you know?" Athena breathed, her hands rising to hold Janey back and pull her closer to her. Her angry eyes closed and she rested her face on her companion's shoulder and silently wept to her, holding Springs so close for comfort.

Janey sighed, kissing her partner again on her neck. "You've been crying since I got to work haven't you darl?" She asked, knowing full well from the redness around her fiance's eyes that she had. When Athena did cry, she cried torrentially, and so explosively, it was amazing Janey had not found out sooner. "It's okay hon, just, relax, it's not your fault. It was Atlas, it was always Atlas and you destroyed them, love," Springs reassured her volatile partner, whose grip on her tattered flesh coloured work jacket tightened at the mention of the Corporation. "It's okay honey, really, just relax, breathe."

"I didn't destroy all of them hon. Fiona stopped me from finishing it," Athena grumbled through gritted teeth as she thought to Cassius. She hadn't seen the man since that night at the dome before she had been blasted by Brick and Mordecai and carted off to Lilith. What an experience that was too.

"She did it to save ya, babe. Cassius had absolutely nothing to do with Jess. You honoured her and yourself long ago. And now you've given it all up, for good." Janey just hugged Athena some more, kissing her neck, then her cheek, softly, really tenderly and she could feel Athena calm to the kisses. "It's over Athena, really, Jess is at peace, and she would forgive you," Springs told her.

Athena opened her mouth, and made a small gurgling noise that sounded as if she was about to say something, but merely but her head in Janey's chest and cried a little more to herself, cuddling her fiance close to her. It took some time, just them sitting on the bed, but Athena eventually stopped crying and again settled into her semi-brooding self with her eyes mellow with a thousand deaths reflected in them, and she looked deep into Janey's eyes.

"If Atlas hadn't have fucked up and betrayed me, I would have found Jess and left Pandora with her. We… Never would have met Janey."

The sudden statement, which Janey Springs did to doubt was the truth, set her little on the edge, frozen with a feeling of gut-wrenching dread. Should she then be grateful that Atlas was stupid? Or should she wish that they had been? Even if it meant that Athena, who she loved more than anything else in her life would never have met her? There was no right way to respond to that, not one, all follow-ups Janey sense were wrong and not advisable.

"Janey… Will you come with me this year?" Athena then asked, realising how she must have just made her dearly beloved feel. The gladiator was not the best with words by any stretch of the imagination, it was the conditioning of the Atlas Regime and only now was she really breaking from it and caring what at least one person was thinking of her at all times. "I don't want to go on my own this time, not after everything with Cassius and the Vault and Vallory and after all the shit," she confessed, rubbing her arm. To Janey's shock, she was vulnerable. Her fiance was acting vulnerable, something Athena had never really exhibited before. It was a surprising change, and telling just how much the adventure for the Vault of the Traveller had actually changed her.

Springs, rubbing some grease from her fingers and forehead pulled Athena back in for another loving cuddle, and then a kiss, on her lips this time. "Of course I will Athena. I love ya and would never leave you on a day like today," she told her dearly beloved and soon to be wife. "I'll leave Gortys and Loader Bot to look after the shop, even call in Sasha to watch them and we'll take a truck out into the Borderlands."

Before she could get up off of the bed to pack the truck, Athena shifted, pouncing on the blonde and tackling her onto the full of the mattress.

"I… Thank you hon. Sorry for all the - you know - needless sobbing," Athena told her lover, before pressing her lips back onto Janey's and kissing her a little timidly, with a conservative blush spreading across her fairly compelled face. Athena was always like that in showing outward and obvious affectionate emotion, even to Springs and even in private. "I love you, Janey."

"I love ya too ya big softie, that's why I'm bloody marrying ya aren't I?" Janey smiled, leaning up and kissing her back.

"Awwwww! You guys are sooooo cuuuuute!" They both heard from behind the door, which had gone from closed to standing ajar, and behind it were a pair of blue lights at about knee height, and then one big red one about a foot above eye level.

Gortys. And Loader Bot.

Nevertheless, they were spoken too, Sasha came over to look after them and the shop while Janey closed it for the day, some of the Bandits would be annoyed they weren't going to be getting their trucks until the morrow, but that was what Athena did for the business. She quelled any and all voices of displeasure. Not that Springs couldn't do that herself, she was a black belt but Athena had a certain talent for it and Janey never wanted to chain down her lover, and she was happy to accompany her to, what she had guessed was where Jess's Village used to be. And they made it there in relative quick timing, with some of the modifications Springs had made to the shop truck.

It even had an advertisement on the side for wherever and whenever she or Athena or anyone else took it out. A picture of Scooter in a dramatic and hippy pose with the bold green letters of 'Catch-A-Riiiiiiide' under him.

More like a shrine these days Janey thought whenever she had to look at it.

Still, they drove and drove across the lawless fringe of Pandora, around old and destroyed Atlas Ruins and burned down highways, most of which Athena had dismantled either on her own or with the help of some other Vault Hunters. Until finally they came to the site.

All it was was a couple of ripped apart tents, some destroyed vehicles, some still burning piles of rubble that must have been set recently. Although it never rained in this region of Pandora so Athena could never tell. And then in the middle of the circle of destroyed things and buried other things under a mountain of about three years worth of blown over sand and dust, laid a small and withered cross of cast steel from a torn apart Atlas service truck.

That was the grave that Athena had dedicated to her sister Jess.

Athena walked to it, with Janey staying close and holding her hand, her forearm, the entire way. She was already worried if Athena was going to hulk and lash out suddenly. They had made sure to pack her sword, shield and a Bandit brand shotgun. But Athena was not crying, she was hardly showing any emotion at all, except for discomfort, it made Springs think that maybe the gladiator would rather be here alone.

"Hey, hon. If you want I can wait in the car?" Janey offered, her grip on Athena's arm loosening a little, but Athena held her steadfast and pulled her back into another one of the long and emotional cuddles. And then did Athena begin to slowly break down systematically and cry into Janey's shoulder. She couldn't handle it, not this year, not after their latest adventure, even after it. She was just too volatile about the whole thing now - knowing Cassius was still on Pandora, probably working for Rhys now as he rebuilt Atlas into something else and new. But Athena did not know if she had made the right call. Was it better to let him live because he was innocent? Or should she had truly burned all of Atlas to the ground for what they had done to her? At the end of the day, she knew only one thing as she held Janey in her arms and vice versa; as she cried in Janey Springs, the one magical thing she had left in the whole entire universe, Athena knew that she would not and could not let her go. Not ever.

She whimpered a little and continued to hold her fiance, thinking of her own astute statement earlier in the bedroom. If things had worked out differently, this would never have happened. Her and Janey would never have happened. She wanted Janey and Jess in the same timeline but knew that was impossible. Athena had to mourn one of them, Jess, or that life she could have had with her and not Janey.

Athena chose both and told herself it was better this way. To be with Janey Springs and make herself better with Jess in a better place than the hell hole that was Pandora.

"Hon, it's okay. It's perfectly okay to mourn her. Okay? Like Wilhelm? Or Scooter? You can mourn Jess honey. She's in a better place than Pandora now," Janey cooed, trying her best to settle Athena, and it worked wonders. The gladiator remembered Wilhelm and Scooter. They weren't family as Jess was but they were as good as they came and closest she got she supposed.

"Family isn't always what you're born with. Sometimes you choose it and pick it up as you make your way in the universe Athena," Janey told her, reminding her exactly that she had a family. A loving one, made up of some of the strangest characters imaginable. And that Jess was still with her. "Jess would be proud of you Athena."

They cuddled a little more, Athena's tears retreating once she realised that Janey was right, and then they kissed again, Athena still timid, barely able to press her own blushing face to Janey's, her lips trembling as she kissed her. She was so hopeless, so nervous and reserved in showing affection to Janey. But the mechanic loved that especially, she loved how timid Athena was in that arena when in every other part of the woman she was confident and honed and temperate. In kissing, in cuddling, in sex, Athena was hopeless, no idea what to do with Janey, but Springs guided her along at all times, and she loved her so much.

"Hey, I love you, Athena."

"I… I love you too-"

Before Athena could say Janey's name a sudden explosion rang out of nowhere, rather close to their truck as a posse of bandits rolled up in a waggon of their own with rocket launchers, shotguns and SMGs primed and ready for a shakedown."Well, lookie what we have here boys!" One of them roared above te rest, a rather fat looking man with a helm looking a little similar to Captain Flynt's. "A couple of girls out in the Borderlands!" He cried, signalling them to whistle and howl at Janey and Athena.

The purple haired gladiator looked to her fiance with a look asking Janey for permission to fillet all of them.

"I thought you'd given all that up hon?" Janey asked with a smile on her face but a look of sarcasm in her own blue eyes. She always teased Athena about packing up the career of killing people for a living. But old habits on Pandora died a very slow and painful death.

Athena shrugged. "Eh, what can I say hon? The boys want me to go out and play. Can I show them how it's done? Just once?"

Janey leant into Athena once again and kissed her passionately on her lips, tossing a pistol into her hand as she snogged her. "Don't take too long babe, we have to be back at the shop for six," Springs told her and smiled. And Athena smiled too, cocking the back of the pistol and checking the ammo.

They both looked at the Bandits, who had made the last mistake of their careers.


End file.
